The idea of a round of watermelon, cut all the way through about 1 cm thick, and then cut into slices and adorned with this and that, has been termed “watermelon pizza”. I don’t call it that, as I don’t like pseudo food names, but go there if you must. Following it with spanspek halves filled with berries soaked in noble late harvest wine is just the thing for a hot night after an even hotter day.

Watermelon salad wedges

Ingredients

1 small red onion, sliced and pickled

1 Tbsp toasted and crushed Szechuan peppercorns

1 finely chopped red chilli, seeds removed

4 Tbsp crumbled creamy feta

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Coarse pink sea salt

Chopped mint

For the pickle:

¾ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup cold water

2 Tbsp honey

½ tsp sea salt

Method

Heat all pickle ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Slice the red onion thinly and put in a jar or bowl. Pour the pickling liquid over and let it stand for 30 minutes.

Then:

Mix the balsamic vinegar and olive oil together. Toast and crush the Szechuan peppercorns.

Cut a 1 cm round slice all the way through the middle of a watermelon and then cut into wedges. Keep the rind on. Pick out the pips that you can see.

Drizzle the balsamic and oil over all the wedges. Crumble the feta over. Drop slivers of pickled red onion here and there. Sprinkle the crushed Szechuan peppercorns and bits of chilli over. Finally, sprinkle with chopped fresh mint and sprinkle coarse pink salt over.

Boozy spanspek fruit boats

Tony Jackman’s boozy fruit boats. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Ingredients

1 whole spanspek, halved, seeds scooped out

250 g fresh strawberries (or use other summer fruit, chopped)

125 g fresh raspberries (ditto)

½ cup Noble Late Harvest such as Vin de Constance, or liqueur of your choice

Method

Halve the spanspek and scoop out the seeds from each half. Using a small sharp knife, and without cutting through the outer shell, cut wedges just through to the skin, stopping before the shell is punctured. This is for ease of serving the wedge portions.

Halve or quarter the strawberries but leave the raspberries whole.

In a bowl, steep the strawberries and raspberries in two thirds of the wine for half an hour.

Spoon the fruit into each “boat”, and pour the remaining wine over. DM/TGIFood

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Champion 2021. His book, foodSTUFF, is available in the DM Shop. Buy it here. 

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks. Share your versions of his recipes with him on Instagram and he’ll see them and respond.

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